World Spins Madly On
by Kirokokori
Summary: The Titans have only just returned to Jump City after their fight against the Brotherhood, and they quickly find themselves at the center of the schemes of several old enemies.
1. Prologue

**AN:** Hello again! First of all, thanks so much for all the positive response to my last one shot. I'm always really nervous about showing others my writing, so I was really happy that people enjoyed it. Anyway, I've wanted to do a longer Teen Titans fic for awhile, and I finally feel like I've got enough of it figured out to start posting. Teen Titans has so many great characters/concepts/themes to explore, so I'm trying to consolidate a bunch of that into one big story, sort of my own season 6. I'm gonna go ahead and say Trouble in Tokyo isn't canon to this, as I'm having it take place directly after the finale of season 5. Pairings will mainly be what the series dictates, though this isn't a romance fic so that won't be the focus of the plot.

Anyways, I hope you enjoy the prologue, and please tell me what you think! I'll try to post more soon.

* * *

Dusk had settled on Jump City by the time Slade Wilson was walking home. He had opted for a glass eye that day, wanting to look as inconspicuous as possible. Dressed in civilian clothes, a simple coat, button up, and dark pair of slacks, most wouldn't recognize him as one of Jump's most prominent criminals. So, when walking through one of the coastal city's seedier neighborhoods, a rather desperate looking man stepping out of an alley, brandishing a handgun in his direction, shouting for his money, wasn't much of a surprise.

Slade stopped walking and raised an eyebrow. The would-be mugger glared at him expectantly. He repeated his demands, this time more clearly, shaking the gun around for emphasis. Slade almost felt bad for him. His choice of victim was extremely, unprecedentedly unfortunate.

"You really don't want to do this." Slade's voice was calm, his hands clasped loosely behind his back. He made no move to comply with the man's demands.

"Yeah, I do. Are you an idiot? Who has the gun, here?" The man snarled at him, taking a step forward. He'd lost some of his fire, though, seemingly taken aback by the older man's non-reaction. The step forward was a mistake, regardless. Slade could reach his wrist, now. He tensed, slightly, preparing to take action.

He didn't need to. With a whistle, a thin metal object caught the sleeve of the man's outstretched arm, pinning him to the nearby brick wall, and knocking the gun out of his grasp. Slade caught it easily as it flew in his direction, clicking the safety back on and looking up just in time to see Robin, Boy Wonder and leader of the Teen Titans, land smoothly on the street next to the struggling criminal.

"Nice catch," The teen said, taking a pair of cuffs from his utility belt and setting to work restraining the mugger, cuffing him to a nearby street sign. Job complete, and birdarang retrieved, he turned and flashed Slade, the man whom he considered his arch-nemesis, a reassuring smile. Now, this was surreal. Robin motioned for him to wait a moment, apologetically, before taking out his Titans communicator.

"Starfire? This is Robin. I just stopped an attempted mugging on Birch Street, can you get down here and pick up the guy?" His fellow Titan gave an enthusiastic confirmation over the line. Robin smiled again, thanked her, and then put the communicator away, returning his attention to Slade. Slade, who had to suppress a grin.

"Are you all right, sir?" It was more than a little odd, having the boy talk to him so civilly.

"Y-yes, thank you so much." Slade let out a small sigh and laugh of relief. "That, that was terrifying. If you hadn't gotten here-"

"Well, I'm glad I did. That's what the Titans are here for. I'm gonna need to take that, though." He motioned towards the handgun, and Slade held it out to him. He took it, handling the weapon gingerly, and with obvious distaste. "You're not hurt at all?"

"Oh, no, thank you. I'm fine." He paused and considered the boy before him. He hadn't planned on turning his attention back towards Robin and his team just yet. After more than a year's absence between his death and servitude to Trigon, he was still in the process of getting all of his assets back in order, hence today's outing. But Slade was flexible, and with an opportunity like this so kindly presenting itself, he felt morally obligated. "Tell me, is there any way I could repay you?"

Robin's mask shifted slightly on his face with the upward movement of his eyebrows. "Oh, no, thank you, but you don't have to do that. I'm just…doing my job."

"A job that you never get payment for?" One of many reasons the boy was wasting his time. The question, though posed innocently enough, did seem to give Robin pause. Good.

"Well," He began, turning away briefly to shoot a warning glare at his captive, who was pulling fruitlessly at his restraints and expressing his displeasure in increasingly loud volumes. "That's not really-"

"Robin!"

The Tamaranian descended gracefully onto the pavement, hues of gold and scarlet wisping in her wake. She touched down next to her teammate, and for a moment, the narrow street warmed and lit up with her presence, before her flight's afterglow faded and the street again grew cool with the coming evening.

"This is the criminal to be escorted to the police, yes?" She indicated the mugger, who had fallen silent upon her arrival. He closed his mouth, which had been hanging open, and gazed at the two heroes sullenly.

"Hey, Starfire. Yeah, that's him." Even with the mask concealing his eyes, it was clear how much Robin's face lit up in her presence. Evidently, that particular relationship was going well. Slade would need to hack the Tower again when he had the chance, get himself up to date.

"And who is this?" Starfire paused and turned her bright gaze to Slade, who returned it with a small wave.

"Oh, uh, this is Mr.…?"

"Kane." Slade smiled at the pair serenely. "I was just telling your friend, here, that I'd like to do something to thank him, for saving me."

"Splendid! That is most kind of you, though I do hope you do not feel pressured to do so. We are more than happy to help, it's why we do this."

"Oh, not at all. I just like to give back, even if it's something small. Lunch for your team, perhaps."

"I was just trying to tell him there's no need-"

"Please, Robin. I'm a…fairly wealthy person, and you Titans do so much for this city. You _all_ deserve something in return, every once in awhile. " Slade was beginning to get impatient. The boy's stubborn streak certainly hadn't left him.

"Well…" Robin ran a gloved hand through his hair. "I mean, I don't know what you'd even…" He sighed and stole a glance at Starfire, who nodded encouragingly. No doubt it would be beneficial for them to improve public relations after their own absence, fighting the Brotherhood. "I suppose I could talk to the team about it. I mean, you're at least free to stop by the Tower. That's what it's there for, so people can communicate with us easily."

Slade grinned. "That sounds lovely."

* * *

Red X pressed himself into the alcove doorway of the broken down apartment building when he saw the streak of flames passing overhead. Peering after it, he managed to make out the figure of Starfire, carrying some sap off to the police. Amateur.

He had to be thankful, though. Things would be a lot more difficult for him if there weren't idiots running around getting caught and wasting the law's time. Snickering to himself, and tossing a few wads of cash up and down in one of his hands, he pushed the rickety paint-peeling door inwards and slipped inside.

Stepping lightly, Red X made his way up the carpeted steps to the third floor. He slipped a key out from his utility belt and unlocked the door at the end of the hallway, closing it softly behind him. He stepped over the unread bills discarded by the doorway, then the dirty clothes spilling from the laundry bin, and retreated to his room at the end of the hall, casting off the disguise (as always, sure to be careful with the components containing xenothium), before stashing it, along with the stolen money, in the upper shelf of his closet, behind some old shoeboxes.

The young man ran a hand through his black hair, savoring the feeling of cool air against his face after having worn his mask for the past several hours. Throwing on sweats and a t-shirt, he crept back into the hall and opened the door across from his, the one that lead to the living room. Sure enough, she was there, curled up on the couch and asleep, TV left on some sitcom or other.

"Mom?" He questioned tentatively, just to make sure. She snored softly in response. He smiled, walking over and pulling an afghan over her. Easing the remote out of her hand, he turned the TV off and headed back out into the hall. He glanced towards the front door, and the bills left unattended in front of it. The pile grew every week.

He still needed to iron out the details, but soon, he grinned to himself, that pile wouldn't be a problem.

* * *

Blackfire stepped over a charred body with distaste. Her clothes were ruined, but at least they were prison clothes. Gray, baggy prison clothes that didn't even fit her right. She needed to find a different outfit anyway, if she was going to get by unnoticed once she left this damn rock.

She picked rubble disdainfully off her torn up sleeves as she wandered down another drab hallway, identical to all the others, though now lined with doors rather than cells. A few fellow prisoners scampered past her, giving her a wave and smile as they too headed for the exit. She smiled smugly back at them, before pausing by one of the doorways. Small embossed lettering read 'Staff Locker Room'.

The princess gave a small clap and pushed the door open, sauntering in. Across from her, a row of blue lockers, to her left, a coatrack, and to her right, a young prison guard, cowering.

"Hey there, don't mind me, just getting some new digs." She said, walking towards the lockers and waving dismissively at the guard, who stared at her wide-eyed. She flexed her hand, once, then flung her fist forward, denting the metal door and busting it open. "Just stay put and I won't do that to your face, okay?"

Blackfire rummaged through a few lockers, until she found a pair of pants and shirt that looked to be her size. The uniforms the guards wore weren't exactly her first choice in fashion, but they'd certainly be useful for unimpeded space travel. She shot the guard an appreciative grin as she grabbed a coat from the rack and walked out, slamming the door behind her.


	2. Movie Marathons and Money Laundering

**AN: **Wow, sorry about the delay on this. First I got caught up in other creative projects and school, then I finished the chapter and was too lazy to post it for like a week, ahaha. Anyway, thank you for the feedback so far, I hope you enjoy this next bit of the story.

**Chapter One: Movie Marathons and Money Laundering**

* * *

The setting sun shown through the large windows of the main room of Titans Tower, casting long shadows over the lone figure perched on the edge of the room's couch. He stretched, as he'd been sitting hunched over for a few hours now, then looked up and smiled at the view, before looked back down and frowned at the device in front of him.

Robin signed, running a gloved hand down his face and staring at the computer screen. He knew he was pointlessly torturing himself, but he couldn't help it. He had several tabs open, all of them stories about the recent rash of robberies committed by Red X. Several wondering why the Titans had yet to catch him.

The most recent had been when he was on the other side of town, stopping that mugging. The night had been relatively quiet, so it had only been him and Starfire out patrolling. Beast Boy was still a bit off his game anyway. He didn't regret being there to stop the mugging, rather than being there to catch Red X, he'd potentially saved a person's life, but it was frustrating all the same.

"Man, how about they try and catch him and see if they do a better job." Cyborg said, leaning over the couch and peering over Robin's shoulder at the laptop's screen. Robin jumped a little, then laughed, shaking his head and closing the computer.

"I know, I know, I shouldn't be obsessing."

"You wouldn't be you if you didn't obsess a little. Having focus isn't bad." Cyborg made his way around the couch and sat down beside him, giving him as gentle a pat on the shoulder as his large metal hands could. "Just don't beat yourself up over it. We're awesome, we'll catch him soon. We probably would've already if it weren't for all the other issues cropping up."

Robin shook his head. "Yeah, it's just aggravating. It's like getting my old mistakes shoved in my face over and over again."

"Hey, like I said, don't beat yourself up. We all know what you were trying to do, the whole thing's water under the bridge. It ain't your fault some jerk went and stole the suit." Cyborg leaned forward, grabbing the remote off the round coffee table and flicking the TV on. "Now come on, there's a marathon of dumb action movies and we're all gonna turn our brains off and watch it."

Starfire and Raven joined them presently, Starfire floating down to sit on the other side of Robin, Raven curling up at the end of the couch with a cup of tea. Eventually, much to an increasingly agitated Cyborg's relief, Beast Boy wandered in as well.

As Cyborg pulled their youngest member onto the couch next to him, Robin realized this wasn't just for his benefit. Cyborg teased him for almost being late, and Beast Boy snapped back at him good-naturedly, but his smile still didn't quite reach his eyes. It had only been a week or so since he'd had to say goodbye to Terra once again, and the team hadn't seen a whole lot of him in that time. Robin wasn't the only one getting old wounds reopened.

"Hey, Beast Boy, how are you doing?" He asked, leaning forward to see around Cyborg better. Raven and Starfire followed up with similar queries. Beast Boy paused in faint surprise, as though he wasn't quite prepared for the question. After a moment, he smiled, a little more genuinely than before.

"I'm all right guys, thanks." He said, giving Robin an appreciative fist bump. "It's hard not to be when I'm about to watch some quality cinema," He shot Raven a look as he said this, as if daring her to contest his claims. She didn't, smiling into her tea cup and saying nothing, "With my best friends." He finished.

Robin smiled and turned towards the TV along with the rest of them, the opening credits of the first movie of the marathon already rolling. There were definitely some emotional talks in their future, but for now they were content to just sit and enjoy each other's company.

* * *

Red X crept along a dark hallway, lit only by cracks of light seeping from under doors here and there, glinting off the tiled floor. Thankfully, his mask came equipped with night vision. Unfortunately, being able to see didn't help him not having any clue where he was going. It had taken him all day (and the day before that, and the few weeks before that), along with a lot of bribery, favors and networking to find this place, and now that he was here, he had no idea what he was doing.

The passage opened up into another room, like several he'd already passed, only much larger. There were some dim lights hanging far above, reflecting dully on screens lining one of the walls, as well as clicking gears and pipes running through the room. They barely made a difference in the oppressive darkness.

The thief paused halfway through the room, glancing around at all the machinery and wondering what it was for. He gave an involuntary shiver. The place was too empty, almost desolate. He shook his head and hurried on, entering another dim hallway at the end of the room.

He got about halfway down it before sudden light filled the hall, hurting his eyes. Red X hissed under his breath, reaching up to his mask and turning off the night vision. "Maybe I just should have knocked." He muttered, looking around uneasily.

"Maybe you should have."

The thief stiffened, whirling around to see one of the doors he had passed now open, the owner of the facility leaning against the frame and glaring down at him. Red X frowned beneath his mask. He was used to appearing suddenly and surprising people, not the other way around. God, this was _embarrassing. _He straightened up, swishing his cape behind him.

"You don't really seem like the kind of person who'd just casually let a well-known thief in to visit, Slade." He said, crossing his arms. '_Yeah, I just called you by name, I'm__** confident**__.'_

"You'd be right, _Red X,_ so in how many pieces would you prefer I throw you out?"

Red X resisted the urge to challenge the threat. He wanted a favor, best not to antagonize. He lifted his hands in a gesture of peace, "Look, I'm not here to fight, or steal anything from you, okay? I wanted to talk."

Slade looked unimpressed. He moved from the doorframe and took a couple threatening steps forward. "You're making the assumption that I'm interested in what you have to say."

Red X skipped backward in response. "Just hear me out, okay? You've got the resources I need and, this could even be mutually beneficial!"

Slade stared at him levelly for a moment, still looking unimpressed, but he didn't continue advancing. Red X almost sighed in relief when he finally said, "What is it that you want?"

"I need help, actually, to launder money. About fifty million. I can give you a cut of it if you want, whatever, I just need someone with the resources to pull that off."

Slade seemed to study him for a moment, before walking forward again. Red X stiffened, but the older man simply walked past him and gestured for him to follow.

'_Pull yourself together, christ.'_

Slade led him down a series of sparse hallways, and Red X was thankful that he wasn't still stuck wandering around. He doubted half of this place was even in use, and there wasn't a whole lot of indicators of what was behind the many doors they passed. Eventually they came to a stop in front of one of them.

Inside was what looked like a fairly normal personal office. In contrast to to the coldness of the hallways, the room actually had a certain warmth to it. A few cushioned chairs were placed around, it was carpeted, the walls were lined with wooden shelves full of files and books, and a desk was located at the far end of the room, upon which sat a laptop and a lamp.

Slade made his way over to the desk, sitting down behind it and booting up the laptop. As he clicked away at something, Red X stood awkwardly at the threshold of the room. After a moment, the man looked up at him.

"You can sit down."

"Oh, right."

The teen did, and Slade went back to whatever he was doing on the laptop, ignoring him for the moment. He began to grow indignant, before being struck by the surrealness of the situation. Here he was, with a famous criminal, both of them fully concealed in masks and protective uniforms, just, sitting. In a cushy office.

'_This is weird. He might kill me. Before he was basically talking about killing me. No, it's okay now. Probably. This was a terrible idea.'_

The sound of the laptop snapping shut brought Red X back to reality. Slade pushed the computer to the side of the desk and folded his hands in front of him.

"Ten million."

Red X straightened up in his seat. "What?"

"You'll give me ten million out of the fifty." He repeated, patronizingly slow.

"No, I mean, _what?_" The thief balled his hands into fists. "Isn't that a bit much, I mean, you already have plenty right-"

"It's twenty percent. I'm being generous to even extend my help to you, so I'd say that's more than fair." There was a hard edge to Slade's voice that made the younger man uneasy.

Red X put a hand to his mask, looking down at his feet. '_Okay, okay, that's still forty million. That is still a lot of money. I can still do everything I need to do with that much. God dammit, the extra ten would be great though.'_

He looked back up at Slade, who was staring at him expectantly. "Fine, whatever, you can have the ten mil. Do we have a deal?"

"Mm, not quite yet."

'_Are you fucking serious.'_ He thought, but didn't voice, because he wasn't stupid. Instead, he went with a belligerent, "What else do you want?"

"I want you to do something for me. It should be fairly simple. I'll deal with laundering your money once you've completed what I ask."

Red X grimaced beneath his mask, then sighed. "Uh, okay, I guess. No promises until I know what it is, though. Is it stealing? Because, like, I'm pretty good at that."

Slade actually chuckled, before leaning forward conspiratorially. "Not quite, but close."


	3. Bad Little Boy

**AN**: Hi, have a much more timely update. And some song lyrics.

_"Bad little boy,  
That's what you're acting like,  
I really don't buy,  
That you're that kind of guy."_

**Chapter 2: Bad Little Boy**

* * *

Starfire sighed, bobbing in the air a few inches above her bed. Her green eyes glowed softly in the darkness of her room as she stared up at the ceiling. Silkie, half-asleep and curled up on her stomach, purred contentedly, oblivious to his caretaker's growing agitation. It was good to be home, and today really felt like things were finally starting to get back to normal, but she just couldn't sleep.

The Titans had watched movies together late into the night, lucky enough not to have any alerts to take care of, and though she'd enjoyed every minute of it, the underlying sadness her friends clearly felt bothered her.

She'd stayed behind with Robin after the others had gone off to bed, questioning him on what should be done, but he'd told her there wasn't much else they could do but be there for each other and let time pass.

"We've all been through a lot in the past couple years, Star, but we've pulled through it together. Beast Boy will be okay, we've just got to give him time and our support, like always."

This both heartened and frustrated her.

She floated upwards and into a standing position, scooping up Silkie and depositing him on the bed. He made a brief chirping of protest, before burying himself in her comforter and dozing back off. The teen alighted onto the floor and walked over to the large windows making up one of her walls. She pressed a hand against it, surveying the night sky. It would actually be the early morning sky soon, according to the clock on her bed stand.

She made a decision, running to her closet and changing into one of her uniforms. If she couldn't do more to help her friends, and she couldn't sleep, she could at least help the city by patrolling it. The Titans had a good system in agreement with Jump, where they were alerted whenever any sort of alarm was tripped (many places had installed specific alarms just to contact the Tower), but even that couldn't catch everything.

She would go out and do some good.

* * *

Red X perched on the rooftop of the apartment complex opposite one of Jump's many beleaguered banks, contemplating adding to the problem. Usually the thought would excite him, but the whole stupid business with Slade had taken the fun out of it. Now he was just trying to figure out how much extra money he could sneak past the other criminal, if any at all.

"Ten million." He muttered bitterly, folding his arms over his knees. Why'd he have to offer him a cut? As if Slade didn't clearly have enough money already. And laundering couldn't be _that_ difficult. Hell, maybe he could just do it himself once Slade showed him the ropes.

He had spent several hours at the mercenary's haunt, mostly being briefed on the job Slade had for him, with a little bit of threatening about the consequences if he disclosed any info on Slade's plans/residence/etc. peppered in, as well as the consequences if he backed out of the deal (i.e., no help with the money). Red X didn't exactly have a good reputation among the criminal community of Jump, what with his helping the Titans in the past, and stealing from other criminals from time to time, and Slade seemed to be very aware of this.

At one point, to his surprise, an older man with a stern but kindly look about him had appeared and offered him tea (not wanting to remove his mask, he'd declined, of course). No one had pressed the issue, but the man had given both him and Slade an exasperated look as he left the room. He came back later, when their talk was done, in order to escort him out of the building.

The sky on the horizon was already beginning to change from inky blackness to pastel blue and yellow. The whole thing had been exhausting, he was honestly a bit iffy about what Slade had asked him to do, and Red X wanted nothing more than to go home and collapse into bed, but here he was instead. Just giving away so much of what he'd worked for felt like such a waste. But he had to admit that he didn't have much of a plan either. He growled at his own indecision, then stood up from his crouch, intending to pace.

He turned around just in time to see Starfire landing atop the roof. She looked around the rooftop and the surrounding buildings briefly, before fixing him with a determined gaze.

"Red X." It was less of a greeting and more of an accusation. Her green eyes glowed threateningly.

He responded with a nonchalant wave. "Well, hey there, cutie."

"You have been doing harm to Jump City, and my friends for too long. If you are here to steal from that bank, I will not let you." She took a few steps forward, clearly ready to fight at a moment's notice. He brandished his weapons, the multi-purpose xenothium-powered x's his namesake came from. The Titan bristled, green energy crackling around her.

"That'd depend on if you could actually stop me," He drawled, then suddenly, to Starfire's obvious surprise, shrugged and put the weapons away. "But ehh, I'm not really feeling it."

The green glow faded as the girl (mostly) relaxed her fighting stance. She squinted. "Feeling…it?"

Red X took a few casual steps to the right, his nearest escape route, waving a hand flippantly. "The whole stealing thing, not feeling it right now. Thought I'd let you know before a pointless fight breaks out." He meant it, too. He was absolutely done with this entire day.

Starfire stared at him, evidently perplexed. "You are strange." She said, slowly.

He continued his careful walk to the other edge of the roof, but now his own curiosity was peaked. "What makes you say that? Me being fickle?"

She put a hand to her chin, staring off at nothing with the look of someone in the process of organizing their thoughts. "Well, no…you do bad things sometimes, but other times you have done good."

Red X chuckled. She was cute when she was being naïve. "That's called being a person, babe."

"Yes, but that is not what I mean. It is different to make a mistake than to willfully and continually do things to hurt others. You seem…conflicted." She paused, as if struggling to find the right words. "Sometimes you seem as if you do not care about the consequences of your actions, but other times you have made efforts to make amends. Please, why do keep stealing?"

Maybe he'd jumped the gun on the naïve thing. He hadn't been ready for a conversation like this, especially not with her of all people. He preferred their interactions to be limited to the occasional flirt in between punching. The thief turned away and let a breath out through his teeth.

"Ain't no rest for the wicked," He muttered tunelessly.

"Pardon?"

He groaned, mostly at himself. Luckily, he'd reached his exit point. "Nothing."

"No, is that not a saying on Earth? Beast Boy once played a song for me, do you perhaps steal out of necessity?" A bit of indignation clouded her questioning look as she continued, "It is still not all right to do these things, but if it's for such a reason, there are other ways-"

Red X had had enough. He rounded on her, the darkness of his cape flaring out behind him. "Look, you don't know shit about me. I have my own reasons for what I do and I don't have to explain them to _you_."

Starfire's face contorted almost comically in surprise at his outburst, but before she could say anything, the thief forcefully threw down a handful of smoke pellets, dropping from the rooftop and disappearing into the shadows of Jump City's tangle of buildings and alleyways.

The princess coughed, staring at the place where he had been, but made no move to go after him. She'd hoped to catch Red X and finally put Robin's mind at ease over the issue, but she hadn't anticipated such an encounter. Her anger at the grief he'd caused Robin had been oddly stunted by the thief's strange behavior, and the nagging feeling that there was something more to his actions than just greed, but the anger was still there.

Watching the smoke wisp away into the lightening sky, Starfire supposed that Red X wasn't the only one conflicted.

* * *

Red X crept into the foyer, sweeping aside scattered bills with his boots. There was no real reason to do so; it wasn't as if it made the hallway any cleaner. If anything it just made the envelopes dirty, but he needed something to take out the remnants of his anger on. Might as well pick the source of the majority of his problems.

He took off his utility belt and collapsed onto his mattress as soon as he got in his room, haphazardly tugging off other bits of his uniform and stashing them under the bed. Early morning light leaked through the moth-eaten curtain covering the window by his bed, but he didn't even care.

The past 24 hours had included running around the city, jumping various dangerous people for information, the most stressful negotiation of his life, and almost sparring with, then yelling at a super-strong alien. For once he was actually happy to be back home on his lumpy bed.

He barely registered the knocking on his door at first, but when he did he started, hurriedly pulling on a loose tshirt and pajama pants to cover up the remainders of his uniform. He jumped back on the bed, layed down and pulled the covers around himself.

"Jason?" His mother pushed the door open, staring at him blearily. He waited a moment, then rolled over and propped himself up on an elbow to meet her gaze.

"Yeah?" He didn't have to try very hard to sound like she'd woken him up. "What's up?"

She paused in the threshold, mouth set in a thin line. Oh, boy. "You…you didn't just come home, did you?"

This had happened a few times before. "What? No, what are you talking about?" He began, with practiced ease, "I'm tired, mom, can you-"

"I heard the door." She interrupted, taking a step into the room and crossing her arms. She was never very good at sounding stern, however, and the gesture came off as more of a means of self-comfort than something disapproving.

"I-" He paused a moment, switching gears. "Sorry mom, I couldn't sleep so I decided to go out and take a walk, I didn't mean to worry you."

"Is…is that really all?"

"Dude, what else would I be doing at," He shifted up a bit more and glanced at his alarm, wincing internally, "Five in the morning?"

"Still, you shouldn't be going out at all hours, honey, it's not safe." She shifted her footing and wringed her hands, before chuckling at herself and giving him a weak smile. "I'm sorry, I'm such a worrywart."

He sat up. "It's okay, mom."

"I just, I don't want you to make the same mistakes I did." She only managed about half the sentence before her voice wavered and cracked, and suddenly she was crying. "I couldn't sleep, I was thinking about all the things I haven't been able to give you, and I just…want you to have a better life than, this-"

"Mom, mom, it's okay. Come on." He was out of bed in an instant, hugging her. He was taller than her now and she buried her face in his shoulder, reaching up to stroke his hair in thanks.

After a long moment, he gently steered her back out into the hallway, mustering as comforting of a smile as he could. There were a lot of nights and early mornings like this. His mother tended to sleep the days away and let her demons get to her at odd hours. He knew it wasn't the best solution, but at least when she was asleep she wasn't upset.

"It's waay too early for either of us to be awake." He said lightly, leading her back to her room. "Let's get you to bed, all right?"

* * *

**AN**: So there we go, part of my goal with this fic is reconciling the idea of Red X being Jason Todd with the timeline of the tv series, so look forward to that. My other goal is to reference songs everywhere, all the time (no it isn't, but I'll do it anyway).

I hope you enjoyed the chapter, tell me what you think! c:


End file.
